Members of Central Temple Committee in Bandarban accused the trusty of Hindu Kalyan Trust of embezzling funds allocated for the observation of National Mourning Day and Janmashtami.
Sources said the Ministry of Religious Affairs directed the Central Temple Committee to observe the occasions with help from the district administration. To help the trust, Tk5,000 for National Mourning Day and Tk8,000 for Janmashtami were allocated by the government.
Source from the Central Temple Committee said they observed the two days with due solemnity where the State Minister of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs Bir Bahadur, also a member of parliament, District Magistrate KM Tarikul Islam and Superintendent of Police Devdas Bhattacharya were present.
Nikhil Das, the committee’s president, said when they went to withdraw the money, they found that it was already withdrawn by the Trusty Surajit Narayan Tripura. Then the committee sent a letter to the district magistrate accusing the trusty of misappropriation of the money.
The Trusty Surajit Narayan Tripura could not be contacted as his cell phone number was found inactive.
The district magistrate said he sent letters inquiring about the embezzlement to ministry officials concerned.